Comparative Study of Infectious Risks in Diagnostic Laboratories between Public and Private Hospitals in Benin

Introduction: Laboratory associated infections are serious occupational hazards for laboratory workers who are exposed through various routes. The present study aimed to compare the bacteriological risks encountered at diagnostic laboratories in public and private hospitals in Southern Benin. Methodology: A scorecard of laboratory practices was developed based on WHO laboratory inspection checklist. The private laboratory was split into two sections B1 and B2 and the public in C1 to C5. A total of 125 swabs from hand, cell phones, work surfaces and door knobs were collected from all laboratories and submitted to bacteriological analyses. Results: Apart from some sections of the public laboratories where poor sanitation was noticed, the overall hygiene level are satisfactory in both hospitals even though the private laboratories were significantly safer (p<0.05) than the public ones (68.55% and 55.81% respectively). Bacteriological investigations showed that mobile phones were the most contaminated items in the private labs while work surfaces harboured more germs in the public laboratories. Although private laboratories were contaminated by over 11 bacteria species against 5 from the public labs, coagulase negative Staphylococcus were the most prevalent isolated organisms from both hospitals. All the isolated bacteria form public and private laboratories were multidrug resistant. Conclusions: Though the hygiene level in the private labs was better than in public labs, the risk of lobaratory associated infections is rampant in both areas with respect to isolated organisms. Serious safety instructions and monitoring must be set to avoid worse situations.